Independent 7259 by Nestor
Posted by nmsindy on January 21st, 2010
Very inventive and satisfying puzzle from Nestor, quite hard, solving time 45 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 A NDROMEDA GALAXY (Gary Oldman axed)*
10 LEANEST “Art showing tendency that’s most stripped-down” Not fully understood. Definition: most-stripped down, I’d say, and “showing tendency” also suggests ‘lean’ but don’t get the rest
11 HUN GARY Gary Player (golfer) Very good
12 AC TOR
13 POL A RISE (a lop)<
14 OUT SETS Closet drama designed to be read, not acted. Outset = start = opening
16 Shirt IDLING (in neutral eg car)
19 MET ALL IC(y) Another one I liked a lot
22 M ELBA (able)<
24 GEORGIA (Aggro i.e.)*
25 PER SIAN Liked this
26 DELIRIUM TREMENS Effect of too much alcohol. Jimjams is another name for it, as well as meaning pyjamas, hence the use of ‘nightcaps’, I guess
DOWN
1 John GAL LIAN O (nail lag)<
2 COME T RUE
3 BEAT-UP beat = copper circuit ie police! UP = in operation (computer term)
4 EAR H OLES (hear)* OLÉS = flamenco cheers!
5 Gloria GAYNOR (singer) “gainer”
6 LA M AR(SEILLA)ISE French national anthem bands together = allies< lam = beat emerge = arise
8 DEA (D TO T HE W OR) L D Definition = out D = daughter child = tot cut = hew agreement = deal finally wanted = last letter
9 YO-YO This refers to the cellist Yo-Yo Ma ie taking a bow
15 S (YLLAB) UB bally< = ruddy (mild swear word)
17 DEMURRED MURDERED starting with the heart (DE)!
18 GLAS (NO) S T that’s top = t
20 ANGERS Double definition
21 Truman CAP (OT)E (pace)* old canon = OT (Old Testament)
23 AGED Dega(s)<
January 21st, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Belting crozzer from a top setter.
I latched on to 10a fairly quickly as it reminded me of the old “art tutor” clue, where “art” is the archaic form of “are”, matched of course by “-est” at the end, so here we could say “Thou art showing tendency” = “Thou leanest”.
BTW – at 1a the name you meant to type was Gary Oldman. It’s a superb anagram is that!
January 21st, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Sorry – I meant to include that “art tutor” was a device used as the wordplay for the answer TEA CHEST (i.e. “teachest”).
January 21st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Typo in 1a corrected, thanks.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:37 pm
I’m not sure I follow your explanation for 14. I interpreted it more that an “out” (i.e. openly gay) set would be unsuitable for something that was “in the closet”.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Some great definitions and sub-defs here: ‘copper circuit’, ‘irony’ and the three famous people defs – ‘Player of golf’, Ma taking a bow’ and ‘singing Gloria’, which almost amounted to a mini-theme.
I read OUTSETS in the same way as NealH.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Have to agree with Mick – I doubt whether there’s a setter alive who can beat Nestor for definitional subterfuge. ‘Ma taking a bow’ had me beat, but of course was perfectly fair.
There’s a mini-theme, I think, that runs through all of Nestor’s puzzles, so I’m pretty sure Neal and Mick’s interpretation of OUTSETS was correct!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Thought this was quite a toughie, and was pleased to finish everything apart from the SE corner where DEMURRED and GLASNOST were beyond me today. But although I didn’t understand the wordplay for all my answers, the clueing was fair everywhere. A super anagram at 1ac, and 19ac, with irony for METALLIC, was equally as good as Phi’s use on Monday of ‘sounds petty’ to clue MIAOWS.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Classy stuff from a very able colleague. Tough but fair.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Thanks for the comments.
No one’s mentioned the Nina, a (non-famous) name embedded as a prize in a charity auction.
January 24th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Can anyone find the NINA? I can’t.
January 24th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Not sure about it, but there’s NESTOR in the LEANEST and ACTOR below it.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
The Nina is in a square of unchecked letters
January 25th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Eimi.
Can you please be more explicit, or tell me what the NINA is?
I still can’t find it!
January 25th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Start at the M in come true and go east, then south from the G in Hungary, west from the second R in demurred and north from the R in Georgia
January 25th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I know this is way too late, and I’d got it before eimi’s last message, but it’s Mary Giles Robertson, isn’t it?
January 25th, 2010 at 10:37 am
…and I had to do that by recreating the grid from the answers above, because I did it online last Thursday, and, unlike the Guardian, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
Now, back to work…
January 25th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Thanks for all your help. But, who is Mary Giles Robertson?
January 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
See comment 9 from the horse’s mouth
January 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Very well hidden, that – well, I couldn’t find it anyway until given the v precise guidance.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
I must be thick. What does “a(non-famous)name embedded as a prize in a charity auction” mean?
January 25th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I assumed it meant she would see her name in the paper as a prize.
January 26th, 2010 at 5:12 am
As usual, I did the Indy days after (if only they have a printable version) and thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Like many others, I was fooled by yo-yo (bravo, Nestor).
However, this joyous feeling has been somewhat spoiled by “Who shot JR Ewing?” aka “Who is mary giles robertson?”
Can someone put me out of my misery?
January 26th, 2010 at 8:27 am
I thought I explained: she’s the person who made the winning bid in an auction for charity, in which I offered the prize of having one’s name hidden in the Independent crossword. (Well, actually, she’s the mother of the winner, but you don’t know who he is, either.)